Hello kitty is the epitome of marketing. As far as I can tell, Hello kitty has never been a comic book character, a TV show, a movie, or anything.
It only exists as a marketing vehicle.
According to wikipedia, “she is a perpetual 3rd-grade student who lives outside of London,” has a twin sister, Mimi, and was born on November 1, 1974. Which makes her a 46 year-old third grader, which is also the second highest grossing media franchise in the world (behind Pokemon… really).
When I think of Hello Kitty, I think clothes, but also pen cases, stationery, lunch boxes. You can get shower curtains, bed sheets, posters, cups. More than that, you can get a Fender Stratocaster, Mini Cooper, watches, and jewelry. Anything you might imagine with a marketing brand, no matter how much it is not aimed at (not does it appeal to) me.
Success is success. Power to them.
You can even get Hello Kitty self storage. I kid you not.
I assume that 46-year old third graders need to store stuff that don’t fit in their Louis Vuitton Mini Coopers. Some smart person in Hello Kitty headquarters decided that people love Hello Kitty enough that, if you need self storage, then some people will pay more money to choose Hello Kitty storage over Joe-Shmoe-from-Idaho brand storage.
What I don’t get, however, is how licensing Hello kitty to be a reflective guard rail near construction is helping anyone.
Except, I am paying attention to the guard rail. So maybe they’ve achieved their goal.
I was stopped at a red light when I took this picture. No kitties was harmed in the making of this blog post.
B.S. Donovan 
